Mercer Consulting has been dropped as the fiduciary manager to the Loomis UK Pension Plan in a move that some industry analysts believe will become increasingly common.

In what is thought to be one of the first occasions that trustees have ousted a fiduciary manager to a UK pension scheme, Russell Investments will now take over the duties for the £120 million scheme.

Tim Gibbs, finance director at Loomis UK, said Russell was chosen because it was able to show “a culture of accountability”. Mercer declined to comment.

Martine Trouard-Riolle, chair of trustees for the scheme, confirmed Russell’s appointment which she attributed to the group’s “clear vision” of the pension fund’s strategy.

Fiduciary management originated in the UK about 10 years ago, but has taken off over the past five years with many consultants transferring their clients over to fiduciary management services, which can be more lucrative to the consultants as they take on responsibility for the investment performance.

Patrick McCoy, head of investment advisory practice at KPMG, said:“When you manage assets, you have a clear benchmark against which you manage performance. You have a clear performance target. If you underperform, it is crystal clear, whereas if you are an adviser, there are all sorts of extenuating circumstances.

“It is more costly and you are paying more for a service. So if it doesn’t deliver, you are going to be fired. We are going to start to see some rotation.”

The UK fiduciary management market now stands at about £58 billion, according to KPMG, with approximately 345 pension scheme mandates.